Samuel Newton
I started at Shipham Primary in 2002 and had a keen interest in history, maths and science from a young age. I discovered a love of aviation through visits to air shows and museums including the Helicopter Museum in Weston Super Mare and the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton, and have a very clear memory of watching the last flight of Concorde from the playground in 2003. Throughout my education at Fairlands and Kings of Wessex I pursued any opportunities to learn about the way the world works and how to practically solve problems, delving into computer science, product design and chemistry as well as plenty of mathematics. I studied Maths, Further Maths and Physics at A Level to achieve entry to Loughborough University where I studied a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering.
During my university studies I specialised in aerodynamics and in particular the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to design new aircraft. My masters focused on the design of Agricultural UAVs for pesticide spraying in developing countries to help improve crop yields by replacing traditional methods with automated drone platforms. This included studying reducing the environmental impact of farming by minimizing the amount of pesticide sprays that are required and removing the need for expanding farms by maximising the output from a smaller area, helping to protect threatened areas of wildlife.
After graduation, I joined Leonardo Helicopters in Yeovil working as a Flight Mechanics Engineer. My role includes designing the next generation of unmanned aircraft for civil and military applications using flight simulators and includes a lot of the computational skills I learned throughout my education. I particularly enjoy getting to be involved in active flight testing of our helicopters and analysing data in real time as the aircraft is flying to validate our models, with a highlight so far being travelling to Switzerland to perform flight trials at a mountain airfield in the Alps.
I think that STEM offers an amazing platform for all students to develop confidence and problem solving skills that can be transferred to any career path!